Children & Youth Religious Education

A Message from our Director of Religious Education

Welcome to the UUCSV’s Religious Education Program! UUCSV is a special place for our children and youth to learn and grow while discovering what is important in their lives and what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. The enthusiasm and joy that participants bring to UUCSV is the key to its success.

UUCSV is a place where our children and youth are encouraged to be themselves and where they can celebrate their differences while developing their own values for living with their questioning minds in a safe, loving, and supportive atmosphere.

We encourage our children and youth to explore the spiritual world through a variety of experiences. We want to help our children open themselves to the gifts that life and people have to offer while appreciating their own gifts as well.

Please take time to read through this brochure to learn about the different programs we offer. Members of the Religious Education Committee and I are committed to making sure that you and your family have a positive and enriching experience. I am happy to meet with you and your family to discuss our RE program and the ways it can help enhance your lives.

“The greatest gifts we can give our children, it is said, are “roots and wings.” Unitarian Universalist religious education seeks to give us all, no matter what our ages, roots of connection and wings of possibility and hope. Makanah Elizabeth Morriss, The UU Pocket Guide

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Our Mission

The Children & Youth Religious Education Program creates a safe, supportive and welcoming environment that encourages our children and youth to explore their own beliefs, spirituality, UU heritage, identity, & traditions, and to respect self, others and our planet.

Our Program Goals

To help our children and youth:

To build a positive sense of self.

To explore their own spirituality.

To see themselves as part of the church community by developing peer and intergenerational relationships.

To celebrate Unitarian Universalist principles and beliefs.

To develop an understanding and respect for diversity in society.

To develop a sense of social responsibility with the ability to translate it into action.

To develop an understanding and respect for different religions and belief systems.

To practice environmental awareness.

UUCSV Religious Education Classes are held during the 11:00 a.m. service from September – June.

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Important Information for Parents

Parents we need you to be in RE too!

We expect you to help our program to be the best it can be! To have the greatest impact on their spiritual development, bring your children regularly, and volunteer to be a teacher or serve on the RE Committee. If teaching isn’t your “thing,” the RE Committee and the DRE can fit you and your talents into our program in ways that will enrich your life and those of all the children & youth! It takes a village to raise a UU. Your commitment that religious education will be a priority in their lives makes all the difference.

All children and youth regularly attending classes must have a completed registration on file. Occasional guests and visitors need only complete a visitor registration form. Permission slips, signed by a parent/guardian are required for off site field trips & overnight church lock-ins. Additional parental permission is also requested for the use of children’s photographs on UUCSV website and Facebook pages. It is included on the registration form.

Classroom Placement & Guidelines

All students are assigned to a class based on their age and grade. This placement generally insures that the student will be exposed to the particular curriculum that most meets their needs and interests, as well as providing the student with the most appropriate peer group with which to relate. Changes to these assignments will be made only with the consent of the RE Committee in consultation with the DRE and the teachers involved.

Background screenings are performed on all RE volunteers and two volunteers are required to be in each classroom during class time. If two teachers are not available for any given class, that class may be canceled for the day and the students will remain in the service with their parents. Behavior policies are in place and provide guidelines to the volunteers on dealing with behavioral issues. Creating a safe and sacred space for our children and youth is a top priority; therefore there is a strict NO NUTS policy in effect for all classrooms and the Library. The RE committee will provide a copy of all RE policies upon request.

Social Action and Justice in Religious Education

This year the Religious Education and Social Action & Justice Committees are working together, creating opportunities for our children and youth to put their faith into action. Please be sure to watch the weekly announcements and monthly newsletter for scheduled activities!

Worship

Because it is important to our congregation for all ages to be together each week, the children join in our worship during the opening portion of most Sunday services. Children attend the first fifteen minutes of worship with their families in the sanctuary.

Children’s Worship

Children’s Worship is intended to help our children understand for themselves what UU’s believe, show them ways they can apply and practice those beliefs in their lives now, and give them a religious language that will enable them to share their faith tradition with their friends. This service for our younger children parallels the sanctuary service with singing of hymns, lighting the chalice, and a story. Children may have the opportunity to participate as worship leaders. Children’s Worship will be held as announced.

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Services 11:00 A.M.

October 1, 2017 "Why I Do This Work—Still" by Carol Carter Walker. Ms. Walker is here with us this weekend not only to deliver this morning’s message, but also as facilitator of the “Beyond Categorical Thinking” Workshop that will be held in the afternoon, after a lunch here at the church. In describing her message for this worship service she writes: “There have been many ups and downs in my journey toward Beloved Community. I've been tempted to leave but I find myself re-committing instead. This recommitment has many parallels to the story of UUSV—as it once again prepares itself for a new settled ministry.”

Carol Carter Walker has been a Unitarian Universalist (UU) for 30 years, beginning as a charter member of the now closed Sojourner Truth Congregation in Washington, DC.She is currently a member of Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, MD, a close-in suburb of Washington, DC. During that time she has held many leadership positions at the congregational, Joseph Priestly District, Central East Region, and at the denominational level. Included in this long list of important work we especially note that she has been a member of the Boards of Trustees of both her former and current congregations, and recently ended her second term as both Trustee and Worship Associate at Paint Branch. She is currently serving as a member of the Joseph Priestley (JPD) Board.

October 8, 2017 "Listening" by Rev. Russ Savage. In this age of divisiveness and tribalism, there are plenty of ways to receive and send messages. We tune in to our chosen medium, whether it be Fox News or NPR, to learn what is going on and get a slant on it. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter give us the means to spread it further and add our own twist. We have plenty of ways to tell others what we think and feel. But how much do we listen to others to try to understand how they think and feel? Let’s examine the subject of listening.